Social Influencer Series | Heather Monahan, 2X Best Selling Author, TedX Speaker, Top-50 Keynote Speaker
If you’ve ever just wanted to tell your boss to “go beep, beep, beep-yourself” - Heather Monahan did just that. She walked away from the C-Suite to embark upon a journey that has made her a wildly successful entrepreneur; TedX Speaker; and 2x best selling author.
Her departure was more articulate than that, but in the era of the Great Resignation her story is so powerful. Today she is helping people free themselves from toxic work environments and their “villains” - to chart a path to their own personal success. In her latest book, Overcome Your Villains - Heather outlines a simple 3-step process to overcome personal adversity in business and in life. This is a fast-follow to her first best-selling book, Confidence Creator which launched her consulting business and keynote speaking career (Top-50 Keynote Speaker).
She did all of this as a “working mom” and that was one of the key metrics of her success. To step away from the demands (and financial security) of corporate America, she not only was able to reinvent herself as an entrepreneur and best selling author - but go “next-level” as a mom. In this interview she talked extensively about the rewards of working from home; working for herself - during the pandemic and remote learning for her son.
This is the third time, Heather has been featured as a Social Influencer. The timing of her new book and The Great Resignation are perfect and it was great to catch up with her. Here is a snapshot of what she had to say:
You had a powerful and lucrative career on track as Chief Revenue Officer of a publicly traded media company. How do you prepare to go from the C-Suite to the great unknown?
There is no preparing for that leap there is only LEAP!!! I had no idea what I was getting into. Literally, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I knew that I had a non-compete for 18 months in the industry I had expertise in so I had to start over somewhere as a beginner. I decided if I was going to roll the dice on something or someone I might as well double down on me. That is when I made the decision to go to work for myself and write and self-publish my first book Confidence Creator. That book is what ended up launching my speaking career and my podcast. I was trying to sell books when someone told me to speak and then I stumbled into a career I didn’t even know existed. Then when speaking disappeared during the pandemic I launched my consulting and executive coaching business which landed me my first board seat. One of my coaching clients got to know me and asked if he could nominate me for a board position. Joining the board of Healthlynked has been an incredible experience. There really was no planning or preparing for any of this just a series of action steps, mistakes, and building momentum that got me off of the ground.
As a mom - a "working mom" - how do you get the confidence to break out and build a new path?
What is so bizarre is that even though this has been a tough road, it probably worked out so much better than staying at that company. With the radio industry in decline, there was unrealistic pressure put on me daily which caused me massive stress. When my son had to move to virtual school and remote everything, had I been at that company I would have been traveling and on the road a lot. That industry and my former company does not believe in remote work. Luckily, as my own boss, I moved my entire business into a virtual operation so I could be home every day to take care of my son while building my company. Again, it wasn’t easy but I am so grateful I was able to be with my son and go through this time together. The way I found my confidence was remembering when I started out as a rookie in the radio business. I started as a green account executive who had no idea what she was doing. I remember that I didn’t find success overnight but I did find it eventually and that gave me the proof that I could start out as a rookie again and find my way to the top for a second time.
Looking back on past growth and success reminds you that it is possible again.
Confidence Creator was your best-selling debut book. Tell us a little bit about your new book - Overcome Your Villains?
My first book, Confidence Creator is a blueprint to build confidence using my experiences in business to illustrate the tactics to get the reader there. That book essentially ends with me being fired. My new book Overcome Your Villains picks up where my first book left us off. OYV is the 3-step process to overcome any adversity in business and life. It walks the reader through my personal experiences overcoming a toxic work environment, my villain, and then ultimately myself. So often we find ourselves in a job that leaves us wanting more or working with people that aren’t supporting us. OYV shines a light on the fact that it is essential for us to overcome those situations and people in order to start putting that attention and energy on our real hold back - our own self-limiting beliefs.
What advice would you give someone who wants to break-out? How do they put themselves in a position to do that successfully?
I love this question! This is what I wrote Overcome Your Villains for! So let’s use that 3-step process I mentioned previously.
Step 1: Deconstruct the belief you are currently holding. For this exercise let’s use the example of me being fired. At first I held the belief that I had lost everything. When I deconstructed that belief to identify the one shred of fact that was there I found I had not lost much. I had not lost my health, my friends, my network, my expertise, my experiences, my talents, my humor or anything else. What I did lose was a paycheck and I was sure I could find a way to another one of those.
Suddenly things didn’t seem so bad.
Step 2: Take Action Immediately! This step is tough for some people so know that it is okay to start with small action steps. My action step I took immediately was posting about being fired. A day after being fired I noticed that no one was calling me. So I took action and put a post up that read:
I have just been fired. If I have ever helped you in anyway I need to hear from you now.
That post went viral and landed me on the Elvis Duran show. Half way through that interview Elvis told me that I was obviously writing a book.
That leads me to step 3: Knowledge - You need to be very intentional about the knowledge you are accessing. We receive knowledge from the news, books, ted talks, podcasts, social media and the people we surround ourselves with. Never take advice or direction from someone who hasn’t been where you are going. Surrounding myself with knowledge from Elvis Duran was the right thing to do. He was light years ahead of me and had a vision of what was possible for me that I did not yet hold. I took his idea and I ran with it!
What advice would you give an aspiring writer who's got a story to tell? A book to write? How do they find their voice?
That is BS! You already have a voice! Just start writing! I googled how do you write a book and it basically said just start writing and be disciplined and write every day. Then when you get enough written invest in yourself and hire an editor. Before you know it, you will have a book! Done will always be better than perfect. Go write the imperfect book, I am so proud that I did!
Speed Round:
Inspirational Book? Are you joking? Overcome Your Villains!
What are you reading right now? Wayne Dyer’s daughters wrote an amazing book - The Knowing
Best resource for aspiring writer? The nearest editor – someone who has written multiple books
Celebratory cocktail? Chard
Inspirational #Hashtag? #confidencecreator or #bossinheels
About the Interviewer:
Mark Keaney is a Husband, Dad, Coach, Mentor and Leader. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry and a wild ride in the world of tech start-up & social - Mark is helping brands deliver world class CX at Khoros, where he is the Vice President of Sales for North America. His mantra is - Brand Globally. Market Locally.
email: markkeaney8@gmail.com or twitter: @markkeaney2pt0
